FO x2: Shawls I Have Loved

In writing my Shawls of 2012 post (awesomeness to follow, ladies and germs!), there came to light a glaring error: two of the shawls had never made an appearance on this blog!  THIS SHALL NOT STAND!

From June: 

Holden Shawlette [Rav] by Mindy Wilkes; knit with a skein of Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk Paints in colorway 9996 Deep Water

No mods, just a straight-up awesome free! pattern, knit in what might be my go-to favorite shawlette yarn.  I love this stuff: it's so soft, it drapes well, I'm not allergic to it, the colorways are beautiful.  YAY.

This was about the time for figuring out photography stuff -- color balance, contrast, lighting conditions -- and I took lots of (awful) progress shots for this one, so here they all are yyaayyyyy......

*muppet flail*

From December:

The Lonely Tree Shawl [Rav] by Sylvia Bo Bilvia; knit with two and a half skeins of Knit Picks Swish Worsted in colorway Indigo Heather

A triangle shawl in worsted weight probably smacks of desperation to some people, and I'll admit, I did knit this mostly to quickly add to my Yearly Shawl Total (YST).  But I love the yarn and the shawl looks great, so I'm not going to feel guilty about the fact that I finished it in about three days.

 

 

This was Shawl #10 in my quest for TWELVE SHAWLS IN 2012!  So was I successful?  Or did I go down in a blaze of glory?  You'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out!  Spoiler alert: wah-wah fail.

FO: Lannis Port

THE HOLIDAYS MADE ME SO TIRED, YOU GUYS.  Also, I'm writing this before coffee; this may get interesting.

Christmas knitting got away from me, as always, so I still haven't been able to send some things.  But the recipients aren't expecting them and they don't knit know about this blog, so HA, gonna write about stuff anyway.

It's a shawl!  It took a month!  Ooooh, aaaaah:

Bananaboat [Rav] by Sue Berg; knit with 2-ish skeins of Knit Picks Gloss Lace in colorway Port

This pattern is free! on Ravelry, vaguely translated from German.  I went up a needle size (no long-length circs in size US5 at my house), so I only did 3.5 of the 4 total repeats of the lace chart (for yarn usage reasons, rather than size).

 

I named the project "Lannis Port" for Game of Thrones reasons; it seemed clever in my brain at the time...  using yarn in the Port colorway + fancy like royalty + I had just finished A Feast for Crows (AKA Book 4).  Cersei wishes she had this shawl!

Mot-less Monday: Pile of Lace!

FO: Gryphon in Repose

To prove I was Not Doing Nothing with the past couple of weeks, I present you with a wedding shawl!

 Ethereal [Rav] by Lakshmi Juneja; knit with a full skein of Spirit Trail Fiberworks "Nona" ~ Merino/Cashmere/Bombyx Silk in colorway Bacchus

 It's a free! pattern, as most of the ones I knit are, and I didn't want it to end!!... but I ran out of yarn.

 

I miscalculated the amount of Chart 2 repeats I could do, and ended up using 75% yarn with only 70% shawl knit.  The first math I did said that I could do 8 repeats... but that only worked using US3 needles.  Since my brand new ordered-for-this 40” needles were mislabeled and are actually size US4 (thanks, unnamed online knitting store!), the math got all messed up. And I wasn't about to buy new new needles, curse my miserliness frugality.  SO I redid math, and didn't rip anything out.  The new math had bindoff occurring 10 rows early (row 73)...

until new new math had to happen!  Yep.  Thank goodness for spreadsheets.  The new new math had bindoff occurring at row 67 of the final chart, so instead of super pointy border fun times, the edging looked more like cathedral arches or something.  Still pretty.

There's only one yard of this awesome awesome yarn remaining for just-in-case emergency snag repairs, and my friend looked beautiful at her wedding!  Such an awesome day!!

Mot-less Monday: Sweater at 72%

p.s. to those who have served in the military, to those on active duty, and to those who will be home soon -- thank you for your sacrifice.

Oh, It's All Going On, Honey

I've been watching a lot of drag queen TV lately, so excuse my sass.  Sometimes you just need to write a to-do list with stuff you've already done, just to get the satisfaction of crossing it off...

1. The Month of Cowls ✓

blocked, shipped, received -- love you, Mama!

2. Yoga Sock #1  ✓

plus a mini yoga sock to make a pair-- what, it's totally legal!

3. HPKCHC Hat Challenge -- almost done, with a vengeance...

seventh hat on the needles and I'm living for my Homespun stash

...but I have so many flippin SHAWLS planned, people
and I'm getting antsy!!

Two Cowls and a Pumpkin

And yes, it's exactly what it sounds like.

Eleanor Cowl [Rav] by Audrey Knight; knit with more than a skein of Knit Picks Shine Sport in colorway 2554 Leapfrog

MODS: knit on US6s and ended early, after full chart B (row 50, no switch to smallest needles, etc.) since it was definitely long enough

Abstract Leaves Cowl [Rav] by Deb Mulder; knit with less than a skein of Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4 Ply in colorway 430 Loganberry

Jack Be Little Pumpkin [Rav] by Elizabeth Murphy; knit with 15 yards of Knit Picks Comfy Worsted in colorway 6406 October and a yard of Knit Picks Shine Sport in colorway 2554 Leapfrog

And now it's November where I am... goodbye, craziest October ever!

p.s. I'm Knitting a Sweater

Hi guys.  No sense in burying the lead: there's a sweater happening.

I've swatched and washed it and everything.  AND apparently, even though swatches lie, I've got exact gauge.  This may be a sign of the impending apocalypse.

I have no clue why I decided to knit a large fancy shawl and an adult-size fitted pullover in an overlapping timeframe... that's not quite true.  I know exactly why.  I want a pretty badge from the yarncraft equivalent of a fictional wizarding school.  !!!

COVET COVET

This fiber is totally messing with my allergies, though; it's reeeeeaaaally rough.  Sometimes there's eye-itching, but this time there's congestion and throat gunk and eye burning.  And now I'm whining about ailments I've brought on myself.

Whatev, it's going to be beautiful.

Always Know Where Your Cowl Is

Just popping in to show off some cowl craziness that's been going on so far this month...  it's so much more satisfying than Socktober!  #Ihateknittingsocks #hashtag

Dayflower Cowl [Rav] by Doggrell Designs; knit with 3/4 skein of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply in colorway 04 Grey

MODS:  9 inches square after blocking

• 102 st CO
• 6 garter rows before pattern
• 3 pattern repeats
• 6 garter rows after pattern

it's not this bright in real life!

A Noble Cowl [Rav] by Emily Kausalik; knit with most of a skein of Knit Picks Stroll Sport in colorway Winter Night

MODS:  7 inches tall x 9 inches wide after blocking

• cast on 96
• mostly symmetrical decreases a la zarestky [Rav]
• adjusted all shields with two center columns a la me [Rav]
• shortened to 1 repeat + 18 rows
• my 5th Noble Cowl!

Mama, these will be coming your way at the end of the month!
Unless you don't care for them.
Then I'm keepin' them cowls!  :)

HPKCHC September Roundup

This marks my second term at Hogwarts for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup and I'm on staff this time around, so YAY for that!  I've been doing a little bit of writing over at the Ravenclaw Aerie blog (unofficial motto: we have graphs!), so I've felt super engaged with the process all month.  There was so much going on...

Detention
This is where works in progress get finished and submitted, so I got the chance to earn points for that bobbly baby sweater I started in August.  AND I got a really cool limited edition badge!  Rav bling!

Ancient Runes
Last term, they offered Care of Magical Creatures as a class, but that's been scrapped for the return of Ancient Runes this term, soooo yeah, that's cool. I made some fingerless gloves with the rune gebō all over them... it's all in the Xs.  The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, but I modified it to work with DK weight:

Quilted Lattice Mitts [Rav] by Jennifer Elaine; knit with less than half a skein of South West Trading Company Bamboo in colorway 138 Purplexed

Charms
The charm of the month was Meteolojinx Recanto, cancelling the effects of extreme weather.  I made a mild-mannered cardigan pattern into a giant kimono to ward off tsunamis:

Abalone [Rav] by Beata Jezek; knit with almost 800 yards of Lion Brand Wool-Ease in colorways Fisherman, Natural Heather, Blush Heather, Rose Heather, Dk Rose Heather, Burgundy, and Oxford Grey

Defense Against the Dark Ages
Tracking was on the docket for DADA -- alert readers will recall the Sweater of Many Ends from earlier.  And there's a hat, too:

Fan Lace Hat from Two Lace Baby Hats [Rav] by Heather Tucker; knit with 61 yds of Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino in colorway 174 Spring Leaf // Puerperium Cardigan [Rav] by Kelly Brooker; knit with yds total of Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino in colorways 107 Sky, 141 Wild Berry, 170 Dijon, and 174 Spring Leaf

Flying
This is where I turned in the bobbly earflap hat that went with the bobbly sweater, since the prompt was all about flying in circles (hat in the round, with all those round bobbles).

Herbology
Herbology = plants = trees = wood = wandlore.  My date of birth in the Celtic calendar corresponds to Vine as potential wand material, so I -ahem- decided to make a wine-colored shawl with a picot edge (symbolizing grapes) and a mesh border (which represents the latticework to which the grapevines cling):

Eiku [Rav] by Reeta Korhonen; knit with most of a skein of Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk Paints in colorway 9958 Vino

Potions
The prompt was about being silly, so I linked to the B52s "Rock Lobster" video and made a blue rock lobster to go with it:

Knit Lobster [Rav] by Molly Lincoln; knit with over half a skein of Karabella Yarns Aurora 8 in colorway 8167 Blue

Since one can only get base points for 6 of 8 classes each month, I didn't do History of Magic or Muggle Studies.

Quidditch
I wasn't at all interested in Quidditch last term -- mostly because I knew nothing about it -- but the first challenge for this month was about organization, so of course I went crazy with taking stash pictures and weighing everything for accurate yardage counts.  Stop judging me, I'm awesome.

The first actual Quidditch match involved craft something related to one or more specific letters -- G, H, N, R, and/or S (for the four Houses + the Not-Quite-First-Year designation).  I made a 6"x6" Han blue Square with a Garter stitch border and my own octopode design done in Relief.

knit with less than half a skein of Karabella Yarns Aurora 8 in colorway 8167 Blue

p.s. all these patterns are free! on Ravelry
All right, that's enough dorkiness for right now... until next month!

Bittersweet Shawl Starts

I was so excited to find an awesome yarn (Cascade Heritage Silk Paints in Vino, YAY love it) to make this shawl I've been wanting to make forevah (the gorgeous Haruni [Rav], by Emily Ross)!!!  So thirty minutes after I finally got the needles I needed (32" size US4 addi Turbo Lace), I cast on:

...it so didn't work.  :(  The color changes interfered with the pattern and everything got muddled together.  It's a little hard to see in the above photo, but I gave it 30 rows before frogging.  Sigh.

So this is happening instead:

Not as fancy and fun--  HOWEVER, it definitely shows off the yarn to its full advantage without being super boring to knit.  I'm going to keep this one.  And I'm going to keep my future Haruni, whenever it happens.

Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

On Friday night, I had the brilliant idea to cast on a cardigan in my busiest knitting month of the year so far:

 

It's for a knitalong, but I'm less interested in the -along-ness of it and more concerned with just trying to gitterdun.  The miles of stockinette are broken up a little bit by the stripes; I hope it flippin fits.

In other news: birthday yarn!  These arrived in today's mail and I just couldn't wait for better lighting:

 

100% baby alpaca laceweight, courtesy of my brother B --
w00t w00t, thank you, kind sir!

Shawls > sweaters.  Officially.

It's Official: I Win at Life

I would just like to say Happy Birthday Week to me and, as Martin Freeman would say...

Nah, just kiddin.  I'm 30.  :)
30?   30??

Yes.  And I'm super excited about it, as you can tell.  I've been waiting for 30 my whole life, and I actually never thought I'd make it this far, so this week, this month, this whole flippin year in fact...

As always, I would like to thank my parents, without whom this personal party would not be happening.  I would also like to thank my husband and my daughter, for reasons.  Now everybody eat cake!

Purple roses are for love, love, love

New GLEE Tonight!

Sorry, guys, I'm a Gleek, so you have to deal with this right now.

The new season starts tonight!  And there's at least one hat!

Fox image ᔥ Entertainment Weekly

They're making a big huge deal about Rachel's "edgier" style, but I'm not seeing how this sweater-short skirt combo is much different from every other similar combo we've seen from her for years.  Maybe that's just me.

Anyhoo: free! hat patterns!  Just add a pom-pom and adjust for maximum slouchability.
Cabled Beret [Rav] by Darlene Dale
Moss Cable Stitch Beret [Rav] by PolarKnit
Quick Cable Slouch Hat [Rav] by Azure

FOs: Bobbles for Baby B

Baby shower for my friend at work today, yay yay yay!

Bobbly Flaps, "designed" by me; knit with 1/4 skein of Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino in colorway 174 Spring Leaf

Leo [Rav] by Martin Storey; knit with over a skein of Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino in colorway 174 Spring Leaf

Fan Lace Hat from Two Lace Baby Hats [Rav] by Heather Tucker; knit with 1/5 skein of Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino in colorway 174 Spring Leaf

Puerperium Cardigan [Rav] by Kelly Brooker; knit with 150yds of Lion Brand LB Collection Superwash Merino in colorways 

107 Sky, 141 Wild Berry, 170 Dijon, and 174 Spring Leaf

Dark and Stormy

It got really gross here, all of a sudden:

So since we've been warned not to travel, there is leftover pizza for lunch and cheery baby knitting on the needles:

Neat and tidy -- little did you know...

The ends are coming for your soul!

I'd also like to keep working on this bright blue lobster thing...

...but I cannot find the sandwich baggie of fiber fill to save my life.  Seriously.  It's not where it was last time I saw it, back in the beginning of June (effectively a hundred years ago in my stash-and-dash organizational system).  Sooooo no lobster yet.